Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Clause 2.8 of DB provides that the contractor must without charge give the employer two
copies of its design documents as and when from time to time necessary and in accordance
with schedule 1 of the contract or as otherwise stated in the contract documents. The con-
tractor is not to commence any work until it has complied with the procedure.
Schedule 1 sets out the procedure, but with reference to the Employer's Requirements.
Paragraph 1requires submission inthe format stated inthe Employer'sRequirements. Ifthe
Employer's Requirements do not state the format, it seems the contractor may submit the
information in any format it desires. Therefore, it is essential that the format is set out.
The submission must be made in sufficient time to allow any comments made by the em-
ployer to be incorporated before use of the relevant document. That requirement must be
read in the context of paragraph 2, which gives the employer 14 days from receipt of the
submission or, if the contract documents give a later date or period, from the date or the ex-
piry of the period, to return one copy of the document to the contractor.
Thecontractadoptsthewell-knownsystemofletteringthereturneddocumentseither'A',
'B' or 'C', depending on whether or not they are in accordance with the contract. 'A' means
that the contractor must carry out the Works in accordance with that document. 'B' or 'C'
means that the document is not in accordance with the contract and it must be accompanied
by a written statement stating why the employer considers that to be the case. Documents
marked 'B' may be used by the contractor if the employer's comments are incorporated and
the employer is provided with an amended copy. Documents marked 'C' cannot be used for
construction, but the contractor may re-submit after amendment.
Ifthecontractor thinksthattheemployer iswrongandthatthedocument isinaccordance
withthecontract,thereistheoptionunderparagraph7ofnotifyingtheemployerwithinsev-
en days of receipt of the comment that compliance with the comment will result in a change
(i.e. a variation). The contractor must give a reason, of course. The employer has a further
seven days to either confirm or withdraw the comment. If the employer simply confirms the
comment, the contractor must then amend and re-submit the document. Paragraph 8 then
sets out some provisos:
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Whether the employer confirms or withdraws comments does not mean that the em-
ployer accepts that the documents or amended documents are in accordance with the
contract or that compliance with the comments will result in a change.
If the contractor does not take the option of notifying the employer that compliance
withthecommentwillresultinachange,thecommentisnottobetreatedasgivingrise
to a change.
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